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My Dinner With Vladimir

By ADI IGNATIUS

March 17, 2014

In 2007, I had the rare opportunity to spend several hours with Vladimir Putin. It was a jarring and sometimes surreal experience that provided insights into the Russian leader’s personality and thinking that help clarify his motivations in Ukraine today.

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I was there with colleagues from Time magazine, preparing the article that would crown him our 2007 Person of Year. We met Putin on a chilly December afternoon at his dacha, Novo-Ogarevo, part of the sprawling Russian presidential retreat set among the birch and fir-tree forests west of Moscow. The visible security was minimal, though we were warned not to stray from the pathways, lest the snipers along the rooftops get the wrong idea.

What struck me most during the conversation was the extent to which Putin is burdened by, and no doubt motivated by, a conviction that the West looks down on Russians. At one point I tossed a softball question, asking if there were Western misconceptions of Russia he’d like to clear up. He suddenly became agitated and went on a rant:

“I don’t believe these are misconceptions,” he spluttered. “Everybody is made to believe it’s OK to pinch the Russians. They are a little bit savage still, or they just climbed down from the trees and probably need to have their hair brushed … and the dirt washed out of their beards.”

It was jolting, and unprovoked. Amid such outbursts, it was hard to make a personal connection with Putin—and I don’t envy diplomats and officials tasked with that challenge. Putin was probably the least playful person I’ve ever interviewed. Most leaders seem thrilled when journalists’ questions move away from geopolitics to something lighter, like hobbies or sports allegiances. Putin routinely deflected such attempts.

Indeed, despite our repeated efforts to inject levity, he laughed exactly once during our 210 minutes together. A Time colleague generously characterized me and a fellow reporter as “Russia experts.” Putin snickered derisively and said: “Ha! They’re more like ‘Soviet’ experts.” Other than that, not even a sympathetic chuckle. My notebook is filled with comments in the margins like, “definitely not cuddly.”

Another underlying theme in Putin’s remarks was a view that the West had overplayed its hand after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and had too quickly disregarded Russia’s influence and interests. His comment on NATO was priceless: “I wouldn’t call NATO a putrid corpse of the Cold War,” Putin said, “but it is a leftover of the past.”

Adi Ignatius is editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review. He was Moscow bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal from 1992 to 1994.